Death Cell

A “pure white” room in MACUSA Headquarters that contains a pool of deadly potion with a chair hovering above it. Prisoners are led in shackles to the chamber by Executioners who extract happy memories from the accused with their wands and drop them into the pool. The mesmerized victims are made to sit in the chair and watch enticing visions of their loved ones while the chair slowly sinks into the “rolling” potion, which sends up dangerous black bubbles when touched.

Ex-Auror Tina Goldstein and magizoologist Newt Scamander were led to the Death Cell by Executioners in 1926 after Percival Graves accused them of releasing an Obscurus from Newt's suitcase to wreak havoc on New York City. The accusations were untrue and they received no MACUSA hearing before their death sentence. Newt saved Tina from the vat of potion with the help of his Bowtruckle Pickett and a Swooping Evil, and Queenie Goldstein carried them out of MACUSA in Newt's magical suitcase (WFT).

When the wand of one of the Executioners landed in the potion it sank into the black bubbles and was destroyed (WFT).

Commentary

Notes

The Death Cell is reminiscent of the Death Chamber at the Department of Mysteries in London, with the large Veil through which Sirius Black fell to his death. It's possible at one time the Death Veil was also used as a form of execution, although that is not canon. The pool in the Death Cell has similarities to Dumbledore's Pensieve into which memories could be dropped and studied, although there was seemingly no danger from the memory liquid in the Pensieve and it could be touched with wands without burning them up, unlike the potion in the Death Cell. - SIP